A huge 72 per cent of those asked in the UK said being able to trust a company was the most important criterion for corporate reputation. Trust came third in the global data.

In the US and much of Western Europe, trust and transparency rank higher than product quality. This is the first time that these two attributes are as important to corporate reputation as the quality of products and services.

Meanwhile financial returns is now one of the least important considerations, dropping from its third place spot in 2006.

‘We are seeing a vastly different set of factors driving reputation than we did 10 years ago,' said Edelman president and CEO Richard Edelman. ‘Trust is now an essential line of business to be developed and delivered.'